The use of touch-sensitive surfaces as input devices for computers and other electronic computing devices has increased significantly in recent years. Exemplary touch-sensitive surfaces include touch pads and touch screen displays. Such surfaces are widely used to manipulate user interface objects on a display.
Exemplary manipulations include adjusting the position and/or size of one or more user interface objects or activating buttons or opening files/applications represented by user interface objects, as well as associating metadata with one or more user interface objects or otherwise manipulating user interfaces. Exemplary user interface objects include digital images, video, text, icons, control elements such as buttons and other graphics. However, user interfaces can become cluttered, making it difficult to visually differentiate icons, images, control elements, and the like, and making it more difficult to understand programmatic interrelationships (or lack thereof) between different user interface objects. This can make manipulating user interfaces cumbersome and inefficient. For example, when several user interface objects are displayed on the same display, it may be difficult for the user to perceive whether it is selectable or not (e.g., whether it will respond to an input). Such problems cause inefficiencies in device operation, thereby wasting energy. This consideration is particularly important in battery operated devices.